Claim:

Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, announced a six-month moratorium blocking all new Medicare enrollments for durable medical equipment, thus preventing patients from receiving necessary home care supplies.

Rating:

Mixture

What’s True

Oz announced a six-month moratorium on Medicare enrollment for suppliers of “durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies,” a category of home care items that includes oxygen tanks, CPAP machines, wheelchairs, gauze and therapeutic shoes. This means new medical supply companies that fall under the aforementioned category are temporarily barred from participating in Medicare and submitting claims for covered services.

What’s False

The moratorium does not unilaterally stop the distribution of durable medical equipment and other home care supplies to patients because suppliers already working with Medicare will not be affected. There is one exception: the restrictions still apply to new locations opened by suppliers already participating in Medicare.

What’s Undetermined

While Oz said the moratorium was “not going to touch the people who need these services,” it is possible that some patients in areas with rising demand could still be affected, although it is unclear to what extent as of this writing.

In a news release, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine cautioned that “the inability of new suppliers to enroll in Medicare could reduce competition and slow the entry of new equipment providers, limiting access to care in underserved areas.”

In early 2026, a claim spread online that Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Mehmet Oz announced a six-month moratorium blocking all new enrollments for “durable medical equipment,” which would allegedly prevent patients from receiving necessary home care supplies.  

Social media users expressed concern that the moratorium would mean patients enrolled in Medicare would not be able to receive necessary medical supplies. Rumors about the moratorium’s potential impact spread on Facebook (screenshotted), X and Threads. 

Several of these posts included a clip of Oz appearing to announce “a six-month national moratorium blocking all new enrollments for durable medical equipment, prosthesis, orthotics, supplies across the board.” Snopes readers also wrote in asking if Oz announced a “hold on durable medical equipment.” 

Oz did, in fact, announce a six-month moratorium on new Medicare enrollments for “durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics [and] supplies,” a category of home care items that includes oxygen tanks, CPAP machines, wheelchairs, gauze and therapeutic shoes. 

However, Oz was declaring a suspension on enrollment for new medical equipment suppliers, not a moratorium on patients receiving supplies or on the supplies themselves. In other words, patients will continue to have access to these medical supplies from companies that already participate in Medicare. 

Oz said the moratorium is “not going to touch the people who need these services” during a Feb. 25 news conference (see 14:13). However, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine cautioned that “the inability of new suppliers to enroll in Medicare could reduce competition and slow the entry of new equipment providers, limiting access to care in underserved areas.” As of this writing, it was unclear to what extent the moratorium might impact patient care.

As such, we have rated this claim a mixture of truth, falsehood and undetermined information. 

The moratorium is aimed at giving the government time to “get on top of what we believe is billions of dollars of [durable medical equipment] fraud,” Oz said (see 13:57). According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, cracking down on Medicare fraud helps keep costs down for beneficiaries. 

The agency claimed to have previously stopped $1.5 billion in suspected fraudulent billings from these suppliers. Durable medical equipment makes up a small amount of Medicare spending — but federal auditors have also repeatedly found issues with fraud in the industry. 

Moratorium is for suppliers, not patients 

The clip of Oz circulating alongside many of the online posts came from a legitimate news conference on a number of actions U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration announced in its efforts to crack down on Medicare and Medicaid fraud, including the six-month moratorium. A full video of the announcement with Oz, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy and Vice President JD Vance can be found on ABC News’ YouTube page. 

Oz’s comments at 13:06, in context, make it clearer that he’s referencing a pause on enrolling new suppliers, not on patients receiving medical supplies or on existing suppliers (emphasis ours): 

Issue number two is we’re announcing a six-month national moratorium, a national moratorium blocking all new enrollments for durable medical equipment, prosthesis, orthotics, supplies across the board. These crimes are becoming a major source of fraudulent activity. 

[…]

This unfortunate necessity is going to allow us to get on top of what we believe is billions of dollars of [durable medical equipment] frauds. We’ve already stopped a billion and a half dollars of billing, but we need more time to shut down these bad guys. It’s going to be effective and it’s not going to touch the people who need these services. We’ve designed the system so that all the people who are already selling products can continue to sell products until we check them out. But no new [durable medical equipment] enrollments, no ownership changes, all the things that fraudsters have done historically will be blocked. This way we’re preserving access or not allowing tax dollars to be stolen. 

 

In other words, Oz was referencing companies that enroll with Medicare to provide these services, not beneficiaries who enroll with Medicare to access insurance and medical services. (“Ownership changes” means changes in ownership of home health agencies that would require new Medicare enrollment for those agencies.) 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ accompanying Feb. 25 news release also clearly states that the moratorium applies only to suppliers (emphasis ours): 

CMS is taking decisive steps to prevent fraudulent Medicare billing by durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies (DMEPOS) companies. A six-month moratorium on new Medicare enrollment for certain DMEPOS suppliers builds on CMS’ stopping more than $1.5 billion in suspected fraudulent billing in this area last year. The DMEPOS supplier enrollment moratorium will allow CMS to explore additional safeguards to further mitigate longstanding instances of fraud, waste, and abuse perpetrated by certain DMEPOS companies. It applies to all applications for initial enrollment and changes in majority ownership for medical supply companies.

The moratorium will also impact existing suppliers who choose to open a new location.

In a statement, Josh Marx, chairman of AAHomecare, which represents providers and manufacturers of home medical equipment and services, said the organization hopes to work with Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services to prevent fraud “without harming patients and communities by mandating a complete halt to new enrollments for existing providers.” 

AAHomecare said in an email that preventing new locations for existing providers could mean suppliers aren’t able to meet rising demand from patients.Â